Congress, Left to skip Bengal budget in protest against suspension of Abdul Mannan

No matter how much she tries, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee cannot shrug off the similarity of situation she and PM Modi are facing simultaneously.

Both the Prime Minister and West Bengal chief minister are being boycotted by the Opposition. Today Mamata's Finance Minister Amit Mitra will present the budget to a near-empty Opposition bench, whereas Congress and other Opposition parties -- the JD-U, Trinamool Congress, Left and DMK are boycotting PM Modi in the Parliament for his raincoat jibe against Manmohan Singh.

In West Bengal, the Congress and the Left have decided not to attend the tabling of budget in protest against suspension of the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, Abdul Mannan, a Congress MLA by the Speaker.

Mannan was pulled up for wearing an apron, which showed pictures of vandalism by the Trinamool Congress way back in 2006. It was on February 8th, the ruling party was tabling amendments to a bill on damage of public and private property, when the Congress and the Left chose to embarrass the Trinamool Congress by reminding them of their destructive activities on the floor of the Assembly in 2006.

The treasury bench was livid as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was present in the House. Banerjee was alleged to have orchestrated the vandalism in the House when she was stopped by the Left Front government from visiting Singur at the height of Singur agitation.

The slogans and the exhibition of those photographs hanging like an apron around their neck made the Trinamool Congress MLAs rush to Mannan's seat. Hell broke loose. There was altercation, even muscle flexing and damage of microphones. Mannan also rushed to the Speaker's well and accused him of being discriminatory. The Speaker found the gesture objectionable and it led to suspension and more ruckus.

Mannan later fell ill and had to be rushed to a hospital, following which the Congress decided to boycott the budget session till the Speaker withdrew the suspension.

Meanwhile, even though the Opposition parties in Bengal are boycotting the budget session, the 3 MLAs of BJP have refused to rub shoulders with the Congress and the Left. In fact, the presence of the BJP MLAs will be a face-saver for Mamata Banerjee. At least the record of the Assembly proceedings will be spared of having to note down that the budget was totally boycotted.

All is not lie when the Congress and the Left accuse the Trinamool Congress and the BJP of a Modibhai-Didibhai tacit understanding. Looks like there is a grain of some truth.